Background
Whitby landscape and practice
leading up to the conception of Wrapped in Cold Hard Comfort, I began to recognise the mirroring of my mental health within my material choices. During this time, I found myself drawn to slate as a surface to stitch into a material that carries both physical weight and emotional resistance.
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When I am anxious, it settles heavily in my body, making everyday tasks feel more demanding. Spaces typically associated with comfort, such as under a quilt seam, can become restrictive rather than soothing. That same sense of pressure is embedded in the work itself. Anxiety weighs the body down, turning ordinary actions into obstacles, and this physical heaviness becomes visible, often misread as weakness.
Yet within this weight lies resilience. The body continues to function under pressure, carrying emotional strain that cannot always be spoken. In this way, weight becomes both a symptom of struggle and a quiet proof of endurance, existing within a system that rarely allows space for either. Wrapped in Cold Hard Comfort is a visualisation of that period a record of what was held, carried, and survived.